Court: Kansas "Ag-Gag" unconstitutionally bans free speech
Published: Jan. 22, 2020 at 5:40 PM CST
A federal judge has ruled that provisions in a Kansas law that ban the secret filming at slaughterhouses and other livestock facilities unconstitutionally criminalizes free speech.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil mostly sided on Wednesday with a coalition of animal rights and consumer protection groups which had challenged the state's "Ag-Gag" law, which was enacted in 1990.
The law makes it a crime for anyone to take a picture or video at animal facilities without the owner's consent or to enter them under false pretenses.
The judge says the Kansas law only targets negative views about animal facilities.